Dishwasher admits to purse theft at Plymouth Township eatery

Police arrested a 45-year-old Canton Township man on a larceny charge Friday night after he took a purse and an iPhone belonging to a waitress at the Courthouse Grille.

The phone and the purse, plus the cash inside, were recovered and returned.

The suspect was on his first day on the job as a dishwasher at the restaurant on Plymouth Road, but quit about two hours into his shift, according to a Plymouth Township Police Department report. He later confessed to the larceny, police said, and said he left the dishwashing job because the workload was too great.

The theft occurred around 7 p.m. Friday. The victim said she had seen the dishwasher, shortly after he quit, near where she kept the purse and phone and that she later noticed her belongings were gone. She went outside and confronted the man as he left in a friend’s car, pleading with him to return the purse; he was concealing something in his jacket, she told police.

The woman said she stood in front of the car until the driver appeared about to drive into her, then got out of the way. The suspect left; the waitress called 9-1-1.

Police went to the Canton address the suspect had provided on his employment application, but no one answered the door, police said. Meanwhile, police found the purse in a Dumpster near that address and returned it to the victim, police said.

The iPhone was found in a pitcher of water at the Courthouse Grille, along with the waitress’ identification and some credit cards, police said.

Police later located a second Canton address for the suspect, went to that address and arrested him. He had $11 cash in a pants pocket, police said.

In his confession, the suspect said he had only taken the cash and that he planned to retrieve the purse later from the Dumpster and mail it back to the waitress.

Shoplifting arrest

A 25-year-old woman was arrested on a retail fraud charge Feb. 23 when she tried to take dog food and beer from the Kroger at Ann Arbor Road and Sheldon.

The woman admitted to the theft, police said, and said she sold shoplifted goods to local gas stations and convenience stores. She had no money, she said, and was about to lose her home.

The incident occurred about 5:30 p.m. A Kroger security guard told police he confronted the woman after seeing her put two bags of dog food and four cases of beer in the bottom of a shopping cart and take it past the store’s cash registers. Police were called.

The items had a retail value of $107.54, police said.

Ditched car, pants-less driver

Police responded early Sunday to a report of a car in the ditch along I-275 near Ann Arbor Road, with a driver nearby who was intoxicated and wearing no pants.

The report was called in about 4:30 a.m. Sunday by a passerby. Police said the man was gone from the abandoned 1998 Saturn upon their arrival.

Wheels, tires stolen

The tires and wheel rims were stolen from a 2014 Ford Taurus late Feb. 26 or early Friday as the car sat in the driveway of a house on Jo Ann Lane, police said.

The wheels and rims were reportedly worth $4,000, police said. The incident occurred between about 8 p.m. Feb. 26 and 6:30 a.m. Friday; the Taurus had been left sitting on landscaping blocks.